1978Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1978 election for Tennessee House District 72
Tennessee House of Representatives · Tennessee
Dale Kelley (R) won with 50.4% of the vote, defeating Bob Butler (D) by 0.8 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Dale KelleyRepublican · winner
50.4%6,915
Bob ButlerDemocrat · incumbent
49.6%6,804
13,719 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1978
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET